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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Rinse June
I was back on Rinse on Thursday (26th 11pm-1am) rolling the grimey, wonky and skippy. No Dusk this month, he was locked in a deep underground bunker, cooking up some mad ish. He'll be back next month.
Blackdown on Rinse June 08
Download the mix HERE
Nu Birth "Anytime (Groove Chronicles remix)" (Locked On)
Brandy "Never Say Never (El-B remix)" (white)
Bird "Game (MJ Cole remix)" (white)
The Ends "R U Really From the Ends" (white)
Roll Deep Entourage "Bounce" (Roll Deep Recordings)
Joker "Dead End" (unreleased)
Jerzey "Allstar Fade" (unreleased)
Zomby "Rumours and Revolutions" (unreleased)
Starkey "Gutter Music" (unreleased)
Sway and Lady $tush "F- Ur X" (from The Dotted Line mixtape)
Geeneus ft Wiley, Riko and Breeze "Knife & Gun" (unreleased)
Brags "Know About Me" (unreleased)
Joker "Gully Brook Park pt 2" (unreleased)
Y.Dot "I'm Not One of Them" (unreleased)
Ghetto and Rudekid "Sing For Me" (unreleased)
Dips "Noodles" (unreleased)
Don Goliath ft N. Dot E "To the Top" (unreleased)
Zomby "Diamonds & Pearls" (unreleased)
2000F & JKamata "You Don't Know What Love Is" (unreleased)
Guido "Time" (unreleased)
2nd II None "Waterfalls (Peveralist remix)" (unreleased)
D1 "Oingy Boingy" (unreleased)
Skream "1 For the Heads Who Remember" (unreleased)
Grievous Angel "What We Had (garage mix)" (unreleased)
Blackdown "Lata VIP" (unreleased Keysound Recordings)
Dusk "Focus" (Keysound Recordings)
Blackdown ft Durrty Goodz "Concrete Streets" (unreleased Keysound Recordings)
Martyn "Broken (Blackdown remix)" (unreleased)
Joker "Holly Brook Park (Forsaken remix) (unreleased)
Zomby "Duality" (unreleased)
Here's a link to download last month's show. Thankfully the lights didn't blow or the station go off air this time :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sonar sounds
Festivals are supposed to be a challenge: an endurance marathon as to how long you can survive without washing or how much you can wake up at 6am sweating in a tent.
Not Sonar.
The festival, which I got back from on Sunday, is in two parts, by day and by night: both parts bypass the need for endurance or tents.
Putting Sonar By Day in the middle of Barcelona opens you up to an amazing city, much of which feels very Mediterranean but, because it was built in the late 19th century, lacks the ramshackle, Medieval feel.
My favourite part was La Boqueria, an incredible market that reminded me of the Chinatown market in Bangkok, except with less toads in bags and more fish, sausages and olives. While the food itself was pretty incredible, the explosion of colour was even better: worth an addition to any trip.
Even before Sonar got started we saw some great DJs. Flyers on walls all pointed to the Sleaze Nation party at Mondo. We wandered down past dozens of amazing yachts anchored in the marina, before reaching the venue which the guide book said you couldn't get in unless you arrived in a Jaguar or a yacht, which is never my kinda vibe for a club.
Inside Rustie and Hudson Mohawk were playing to what looked like a dressy Ibiza crowd, most of whom turned out to be Brits, all of whom were loving the mix of wonky, bassline, rave, crunk and dubstep. I'd heard Joker "Holly Brook Park" and I'd only been in the country about four hours, perfect!
Given the setting, and the, erm, beer, I thought it a good idea to text at 2am Joker to tell him even clubs with plasma screens in Barcelona marina on the walls go off to his next level shit. Turns out, somehow, I had his mum's number.
She calls back the next day trying to work out who the hell I was. She put Joker on the line by which point none of us knew what was going on. I've deleted Joker's mum's mobile out of my phone now: it's probably for the best.
Sonar by Day takes place in and around an art gallery, and it was fun to link Mala and for the first time, the mighty TRG, and chill. It was cool to see the tents and stages, but nothing would prepare me for Sonar by Night.
I've seen a few festivals over the years – Glastonbury, Creamfields, Homelands, Phoenix, Big Chill, T in the Park – but no one mentioned just how insanely large Sonar is. There were not one but three rooms that you could have parallel parked two airbuses next to each other in. The rooms were cavernous, just enormous, like the main stage at Glastonbury but in an aircraft hanger.
No wonder then that Diplo, a small dot even from our vantage point down the front, chose to play disco house to begin with. As dubstep has exploded in the last two years the relationship between musical choices and scale has become ever apparent. Subtleties get lost in front of a crowd of biblical proportions.
Diplo found room in the end of his set to drop some of the flavours he's best known for, not least MIA's "Paper Planes" and Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Durty", but I'd have preferred him to have taken the massive opportunity presented to him and used it to drop a more daring set.
It was also curious to watch him as a DJ, nervously touching flitting around the mixer, four or eight times a bar. It looks like he's busy, but if you know how little effect EQ tweaks have, it was definitely a question of: just what is he doing up there?
The same applied to the act that followed him, Justice. Essentially a clone of Daft Punk, they make a massive effort to visually engage the audience. They perform from behind two stacks of Marshall amps (which looked like they'd been hollowed out from where I was standing), rock 80s leather jackets, haircuts like Noel Fielding and a huge glowing cross. Beside the baffling and contradictory symbolism, their music took Daft Punk's sound and altered the balance in the arrangements between the breakdowns and the full tracks, so just as you got your groove on, you'd be back to filtering again. And while it was a fun set, like Diplo and as I've wondered before about "live" electronic music, it definitely looked like a question of: just what are they doing up there?
It's hard to answer precisely: they wouldn't be the first dance act to put on the DAT and act like it's live. It just goes to show if you turn up with enough rock paraphernalia and glowing crosses, your audience will cease to care how the music's made.
The dubstep took place on a smaller arena, though still about the size of DMZ. Mary Anne Hobbs mixed it up: it was great to hear grime riddims like "Intensive Snare." Shackleton felt far less claustrophobic than when I saw him last, perhaps because it was warm and Mediterranean and his setup was flanked in a cascade of decorative lights, but it was really great to hear his detailed and abstract percussion. Am so glad he's made it to a level where he can perform on this kind of stage.
Having seen a bit more of Justice, I arrived back in the space during the heavy metal track Mala is playing, which oddly, was exactly the moment I left his set at Brainfeeder festival the weekend before. Flying Lotus, also at Brainfeeder, dropped the instrumental of Truth Hurts/Dre's "Addictive," which with the Lata vocal samples, is a persy ingle. Buraka Son Sistema put on a good show, with tough and layered Kuduro percussion and a good stage presence.
The rest of the night was all about Theo Parrish though. Bar a few hollow amps, glowing crosses and Teenwolf leather jackets, there's little in essence difference between Parrish's meticulous EQing of long JBs records and Justice, but something felt to perfect about the former. How does he make gentle classics sound so fresh and physical?
It made a total contrast for Sonar on Saturday, which by night confirmed my fears about techno. I used to love Detroit techno, I really did, until I'd worked my way backwards through the classics and realised moving forwards wasn't cutting it. Yet this was apparent again as Jeff Mills tried to re-create his classic, conceptual X-102 project. But if his idea of conceptual engagement is 30 minutes of ambient loops and NASA photos, it didn't seem to do much for the massive warehouse crowd watching it. But worse still were some of the DJs on the stage Mary Anne had curated the night before.
I'm apprehensive about 4-to-the-floor at the best of times – it's a rhythmic trap that means that audiences who're fed it, wont accept anything else – but even within the spectrum of tech/house/garage/hardcore 4x4, there are tens if not hundreds of sub genres and flavours. But the DJs booked seemed to only want to play one flavour: techy but not boshingly hard, cool and never warm, seamlessly mixed without breakdown nor ever moments of true emotional intensity. It began to really grate after several hours. Put it this way, my Saturday highlight was either the double strength Caipirinhas a local friend had earlier led us to down some dark side alley or the dodgems.
Techno dullardry aside, Sonar is an amazing festival. If you go, I hope the weather is just as amazing. If it is, you'll love it...
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Meme collision
So Dusk and I were up on Rinse the other month and clocked a flyer that said "say no to wonky." I tried to follow it up but big up Mel for beating me to it. Gwann girl!
It was in May I wrote about the outbreak of unstable synths both reclaiming the mid-range from the deadout heavy metal wobble massive in dubstep and ripping through other scenes too. I described the flavour as "wonky" because it, well, seemed to fit. Simon then noticed there were several other wonkys, the rest of which I'd not heard of.
(As a quicky wonky update, the Brainfeeder night is this Sat with an insanely wonky line up: Flying Lotus, Rustie, Hudson Mo, Kode9, Mala and more. I'm deya!)
But the flyer at Rinse belonged a funky event Circle, so it's unlikely they'd be talking about the same "wonky" as me. What made it even more confusing is that Mel thought it looks like their "say no to wonky" flyer graphically indir-ed the Hudson Mo logo, someone I'd named in my Pitchfork piece.
Turns out there some kind of urban meme collision going on.
Shout to Mel for getting to the bottom of it, with a quick Q&A from Tippa of Circle events.
"Our take on the term 'Wonky' is that for us," says Tippa from Circle, "in terms of house it means poorly produced UK house or funky should I say as this is what all the kids are calling it."
"Now I'm not saying that all UK house is shit, cause that's not the case…. Phil Asher, W Beeza, Coopr8, Freerange, Perempay & Dee, Geeneus, Fanatix, Sy Sez & Gavin Peters (Aphrodisiacx), Guy Robin etc… there are loads of acts and producers doing what house is about and producing quality stuff that can rival the us."
"But we feel the other side of the production which is produced poorly, sounds like a spin off from UK grime and kids using the same loops, same beats, same tribal sounds… And we feel as some of the well known DJs that if we as a whole don't speak out and try to educate the new producers coming through on how house is supposed to be made and sound, what its meaning and background is, then who will?"
Crikey, as Ben UFO points on the Dubstep forum, it's like the circa 2000 garage wars all over again.
Back in 2000 as UKG became popular, there was an influx of youngers keen to gain status in a community that had essentially been founded around "the Sunday scene," one originally run for older, smartly dressed ravers. When the genre got jumped it created a series of dynamic tensions that resulted in an amazing tempo plateau where Zinc's breaky "138 Trek" sat with Todd Edwards' vocal chopped US garage. DJ Narrow's hard 4x4 would ride with r&b influenced 2step. El-B's dark swing got mixed into Slimzee and Geeneus' proto grime of riddims like Musical Mob's "Pulse X."
Perhaps inevitably, the tensions on the plateau could only be contained for a while: young and old, raw and well produced, feminine and masculine, DJ-focused and MC-based, dark and light, hectic and mellow, road and mature could all sit together only for so long. Check the Guardian piece where the Dreem Teem interview So Solid on Radio 1 and the tensions surface…
"Any tip for ageing rockers like ourselves?" Spoony asked them sarcastically. "How can we stay out there?"
"Give the youth of nowadays a chance to bust through that barrier - 'cause you lot have been there for so long and it's our time now," retorted Romeo.
"Are you saying we must step over?"
"A little sidestep," Romeo suggested. Mega Man added: "Look for new talent that can carry your name when you lot are too tired to DJ.""
Whether Circle feel the same way as Dreem Teem did then or not, there definitely seems to be parallels. As it's hype grows, funky's getting jumped by a lot of grime producers and it's clear the some funky headz aren't keen. As Geeneus put it in a comment on my blog "let grime be grime and funky be funky!"
If you ignore production values (one man's lack of production values is another's aesthetic, ain't that right Bok Bok?), the elephant in the room is the aggression of grime. Circle events are tightly regulated: I tried to get on the mailing list about six months ago but balked at the prospect of having to give information like my mobile number and home address to someone on the end of an email. Yet given urban London, I can understand their interest in keeping the "Circle" tight.
It's going to be interesting to see how funky develops. On one had you have the sense of déjà vu that being familiar with the London nuum cycles brings, that with the influx will come darkness and an emphasis on MCs agin. On the other you have the assertions that Supa D comments suggest, that these are separate things (grime and funky) and the implication that the funky scene wont let history repeat itself.
Speaking of history, the Guardian article references a photoshoot I was actually at, co-ordinated by The Face, who's staff at that time included Emma Warren, now of "Steppas Delight" [Soul Jazz] fame.
I was an intern back in 2000, and the shoot was held over two days, so I wasn't there, in Croydon, when "[Norris 'Da Boss'] Windross … refused to have his photograph taken with Dee Kline for the Face magazine." Instead I was there for the first day, that featured El-B, Zed Bias and Jay Da Flex. It would be my introduction to what would, six or so years later, blow us as dubstep. It seems like things have all come full … "Circle." Meme collision alert number two!
Pirate presha
If you don't know Matt Mason, he's my previous editor at RWD magazine and predicted the funky movement years ago.
Anyway, since leaving RWD he's emigrated to NYC and rocked it by writting a book that subtly drags the 'nuum to the Americans: "Pirates Dilemma."
Now, in a new overload media age, I'm a slow reader, so I thought I'd blog it now rather than wait until I finish it in 2009. So far, it seems to be weaving a path between disparate cultural phenomena, finding common cause in web 2.0 empowerment and subversion of culture. Checkit...
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Recently I interviewed Appleblim for the Dubstep Allstars 6 CD sleevenotes. Now the CD has dropped, here's our conversations in full.
Blackdown: So can you tell me a bit about your musical background?
Appleblim: "I am not originally a Bristolian, I came from Notts and Plymouth before I moved to London in '94, was there 8 years playing bass in a math-rock / psych band, going to Metalheadz, Jungle Fever, Movement and all the major techno nights like Final Frontier, Bloodsugar as my mates set up a d&b label and played on pirates etc, then 3 years in Bath studying music technology, which is when I discovered the FWD>> scene, then after that started supporting Pinchs early Context & Subloaded dubstep nights, and finally moved to Bristol after the course in '06."
A: "Basically moving to London in '94 was 'the one' really. I'd been going to raves but never really thought of being a DJ. But when me and my mate moved to London we just caught the bug, listening to the radio, of what was going on, picking up our first jungle tunes and stuff. It was actually my friend that got me into DJing: he came into some money and bought some decks. But I taught him to mix because he wasn't a particularly rhythmic bloke."
"So I learnt with his records: Moving Shadow, Reinforced, Omni Trio kind of stuff. So I've always been around it but didn't take DJing seriously until Sarah asked me to play at FWD>>. I'd had a few gigs before that, just from putting on a few nights on in Bath where I was at the time – that's actually how I met Pinch, Blazey and Peverelist. They came over and played basically. Pinch gave me my first gig actually, just in a little room at a drum & bass night, but when Sarah said I should do a warm up at FWD>> it was a bit 'whoah,' a reality check."
B: How had she heard you DJ?
A: "Just from stuff she'd heard me play in the office and generally pushing, stuff I was listening to that she enjoyed. I'd done a little cover on Rinse as well. She was like 'you should play down at the club' and it was bonkers really. I've had a really steep learning curve. Playing at your favourite club was a bit much. I was never nervous and I wasn't technically that good at the time. It's been a bit of trial by fire: chucked in and learning in front of people. It's been a bit harrowing a few times but it's sharpened me up. Going from just 'doing it' to thinking about how you want to shape your sets – it's made me think differently about the whole thing. I've always enjoyed listening to DJs who took you on a journey, but I'd never really thought about how they did it. It was really good fun to do it myself, doing the warm up slots gave me the freedom to mess around a bit more, y'know?"
B: But didn't you play at the Skull Disco parties in Stoke Newington?
A: "Yeah but then again it was more just like I wouldn't have said they were good sets. I wouldn't have said they were good sets, just more of an opportunity to hear the music more. And to hear Shackleton's music more: and his music wasn't being heard many places. So it was a place to hear that stuff loud. But that was playing recently bought tunes for the fun of it. I've been chasing producers around for new music since I very first discovered FWD>> and I gradually ended up getting given a few things: it's a real addiction. Some DJs have the strength of their mixing talents to see them through."
B: Despite all the stress, it must have been fun playing FWD>> though?
A: "Yeah it's my favourite room in the world."
B: Yeah it's my favourite room too, that space between the pillar and the decks.
A: "There's been so many moments. It's very strange going from being a raver who was there obsessively down the front to going to someone standing behind the decks. It's definitely an honour: I've had countless epiphanies down there, so if I can give people a few of those then that's my job done."
B: I remember coming down to see you early in 2007 and leaving feeling you'd really discovered your 'sound' as a DJ...
A: "Yeah I remember and was really proud of that because before I'd felt that I'd either tried to fit too many or the wrong style into my sets. But I made a conscious decision, and Sarah [from Ammunition/FWD>>/Tempa] had told me this too, to stick to my guns. Sarah had said that's why she'd asked me to play there. Not that it's 'don't play to the crowd' but you're here because you have a certain selection and taste. And I was like, yeah I should just keep drawing for the things I like listening to, because if you lose a bit of the floor, gradually you'll get it back again."
B: Do you think you need to be stubborn as a DJ?
A: "It's that age old thing: do you want to be a party DJ or do you want to be someone who carves something a bit new? But playing down there is so different to someone who's employed in a bar to keep people drinking, you have carte blanche. So even if there's only ten blokes down the front going 'oi speed it up will ya, we want 'dubstep!' sod it, the boss has told me I can play what I want so I will. Take risks. Even Hatcha playing the Mystikz. I remember the first few times he did and I was confused and I stood still for a bit. I remember Youngsta playing breaky or early grime but then to hear this weird odd offkilter stuff... it was weird but then look at what it did. But you've got to be brave like that, definitely."
B: So is this CD 'about' your sets at FWD>>?
A: "Yeah, pretty much. I guess being given the opportunity to go to other places shapes what you do and how you want to approach selecting tunes but FWD>> is the one for me so if something works there then that's what I'm happy with, y'know?"
B: So tell me how things have evolved with Shackleton? You were first best known together with Skull Disco but now have both developed unique but different styles.
A: "Shackleton was never from a dance music background, whereas I was. I've been into it since I was a little kid. For Shackleton DJing was never part of it and he was always not every confident, and in terms of finding tunes and playing them to people that's not something that was ever going to be a buzz for him. He is about making his own rhythms and trying them out. It's a completely different way of looking at things. So it makes sense that we've drifted our own ways. But the stuff he's doing with his live set is incredible, I'm so pleased to see him go from struggling to do things on turntables because that's the way we'd seen it done – you go cut your tunes and you play them – but he's just taken it on somewhere else completely. Every time I see him it's mad, I see it taken on a step further, becoming just totally himself. Really incredible, y'know?"
B: While his music is quite technical to mix, you both share a love of bass and percussion: is there no way you could try to find room in your sets?
A: "I think for that reason I was always quite scared of playing Shack's stuff, because of the percussive nature of it: if you're not confident as a DJ it's hard to pull that off. But I think we have got really different ways of looking at music and while we have a lot of shared tastes we have things we probably don't understand about each other's way of looking at things. And Shack is single minded like that, y'know? Which is brilliant because I think that comes through in his music. Whereas for me I'm not a creator in the same kind of way. I'm more the person who used to carry tapes and records around to people's houses, being the one sat next to the stereo going 'oi, check this out!' That's what I feel like I'm still doing now. So it's kind of a different thing but nice we're still in touch and the whole Skull Disco venture has got a long way to go in lots of weird different directions. It's great to be involved."
B: In many ways you're central to the faction that has pioneered this dubstep/dubby techno axis. Tell me about the trip to Berlin...
A: "That was an amazing trip, in the early days of us getting any bookings anywhere. One of the things that Shack and I had bonded over, in terms of what we listened to, was all the Burial Mix stuff. So getting booked to play Berlin it was like, of course we're going to go to Hardwax and Dubplates and Mastering, as places we'd heard about for so many years. I'd been a big fan of the whole Chain Reaction sound since working in a record shop in '97. So we went and cut some dubs at Dubplates and Mastering and met the people who run the shop and it's just completely fascinating, as these are the dudes who were the first to set up a dance music shop in Germany. There's a lineage there."
A: "But it was funny because they don't keep posters up outside the shop, in fact they're quite militant about taking them down, but they left up this huge one that had a photo of Shackleton raving at Subloaded with his arms in the air and another weird one of me. I think it's still there now. They love Shackleton, it was a real buzz. I got to meet all of them, they treated us like family. We didn't realise they'd been such fans since the first one: you put the records out and you don't think about where they're getting to. But they'd been really interested, so to meet those people and know they were into our music is bonkers really."
B: And then you took it a step further with the T++ connection...
A: "It was literally through that meeting and that I'd been chatting to one of them, Torsten, online before, to do with stocking our records, and I said to him oh can you get me the details of T++ and he said, 'oh you do realise this is me?' And it's like oh, you were Resilent, Erosion and Various Artists and all these things that I absolutely used to love. It was wicked and mad to think that the music in England makes waves over there in the same way that it was making waves back then for us. They're as obsessive and fascinated by the whole dubstep thing. He sent us music, we struck up a friendship and did a real nice job on the Shackleton remix. His remix of "Vansan" isn't going to come out on Skull Disco so I'm definitely thinking about it for Applepips and there's this really nice techno basically thing he sent us – most of the stuff he sends isn't as he's moved into this really strange breaky chopped up stuff – but there's this one thing that is the straightest thing he's done in a while and I absolutely love it. But it's a case of the label being established before I approach too much. Once the new release is in the shops I'll feel more confident but it's definitely something I want to do."
B: I like the idea of you taking Bristol dubstep and Berlin dubby techno and exploring the space between the two and finding something that's neither.
A: "I love the shared area between them and I've decided that 'Pips is going to explore any one of them. Hopefully people will know that it's going to be just, good interesting music rather than one particular genre. Because you find that people are listening to all this other stuff even if they're making techno, so let's bring it all together."
B: The mix nails the state of the dubby techno/dubstep sound really well. But I have two concerns with this interesting direction. One is that it will just become 140 bpm techno, with little elements left from the dubstep side of things, like an edge or bass or swing or odd rhythms. Also it's a fine line between having a little dubbed out breathing space and totally clean formless e-lead headspace, where you move from the London/Jamaican-influenced dub to empty anodyne techy headspace. The edge, the rudeness of the bass could get lost. Do you think either of these concerns are valid?
A: "Completely. For me, it's about the swing. Now, you may say that some of the tunes on this mix are essentially halfstep, like 'Harajuku' or 'Moog Dub' , even 'Circling', but I fell anything I play with that kind of halfstep feel must always have a swing or funk to the rhythms around the main kick and snare…for example, 'Lean Forward' - one of my all time favourite tunes, regardless of genre' -essentially has that halfstep kick and snare pattern but there is so much funk and swing going on around that in the percussion etc that you don't even really notice…"
A: "I think there's a lot of genre blurring going on, and like you say its sort of a danger that it will become 140 bpm techno, but the answer is exactly what you have said, it needs to retain some funk and swing. Having said that I try to just view great music as great music, and always have, so that I might play a tune by a 'dubstep' producer that sounds essentially like a 'techno' tune… in the end, if it moves you it moves you… also there is so much funk in say, the hi hats and rhythms of Derrick May, whilst some boring techno can be very straight and unfunky… there is always those that have the funk and those that don't in any scene!"
B: How did you go about approaching the mix, in terms of how you wanted the direction of it to go?
A: "I wanted the mix to be a representation of what I play in the clubs, a mixture of unreleased exclusive dubplates and some big tunes that I helped to break, things like RSD's pretty bright lights, Peverelist's 'Infinity is now', and Martyn's remix of Broken Hearts. I was amongst the first to play these tunes out, and wanted to give more exposure to tracks that I really think are phenomenal."
A: "I like to build a set, not always start with bangers, I like to create an atmosphere, obviously it's a bit of a cliché to start mellow and work upwards but I find it works for me, the harder tracks have much more impact if you have played some spacey-er, deeper, more 'head' music first. So this is what I tried to do with the mix, moving through spacious dubby tracks like 'Gather', 'Circling' and 'Moog Dub', then heading into reggae drops and 4x4 techy stuff with 'Babylon' 'Bad Apple' and 'Percession.'"
B: The mix is hung on two real emotional peaks for me, sticking out almost like the pillars of a suspension bridge: early on with Pinch's "Get Up" and later Martyn's "Broken Hearts remix". How did you go about ordering the tracks?
A: "I wanted to include get up as I personally love the song, and it is a SONG rather than a track and I think that's very important for this scene, it's the same with 'Reminissin' by Geiom… these are two tunes that always make me sing along and give me a shiver down the spine. The same with 'Broken Hearts', for me it's a real emotional track so I wanted to give something like that towards the end of the mix to show that its not just all about taking it harder and more banging."
Dubstep Allstars 6 mixed by Appleblim is out now
PS who knows the story of how Appleblim got his DJ name? My lips (sic) are sealed. Hehehe…
Rude Kid
As part of this month's Pitchfork column, I interviewed hype new grime producer Rude Kid. Here's the full transcript.
Blackdown: How long have you been producing?
Rude Kid: "I've been producing for four years, two years properly. Mostly grime – I can do anything – but right now I'm doing grime."
B: Where are you based?
RK: "East London, Ilford, Redbridge side."
B: In grime, most people seem to want to be an MC. Why did you choose to be a producer?
RK: "I always liked making beats. I always wanted to let out what I was thinking at that time on a beat. If I was angry, I would make a dark beat, feeling happy a happy beat. Y'know? Them ones there. Obviously I used to spit, to MC but now I'm onto the producing, fully."
B: You've worked with a lot of east MCs, but are you part of any one crew?
RK: "I'm in Alien Music. That's like my team, MCs, DJs, producers – basically all my guys. Marger, Death Star, Danny D, Kwam, Champman, Nut Case, Rico ... and there's more. We're on grime mostly."
B: So tell me about some of your recent beats, they've been getting a lot of attention...
RK: ""UFO Mode" is going to be on my 12" EP release on No Hats No Hoods in June, with "The Best (instrumental)," "Bandannas On" and "Alien Skank.""
B: You've got this alien theme going on, what's that about?
RK: "That's just my beats, my style: alien music. If you listen to my beats they have a little thing to them: they're different to others. So that's why it's called that. I'm not obsessed with aliens or nothing. It's not dat. It's more about being different from others, being alienated, that's more of the meaning."
B: That's cool because as a producer it's essential you sound original...
RK: "... yeah that's how you get more noticed, so it helped me a lot."
B: Do you use samples from films?
RK: "Yeah, like on "UFO Mode" and I've got a next tune that Maximum's playing recently called "Exist." I just go on YouTube and type "aliens" and if I hear something I like I get someone to rip it for me. That's it bwoy."
B: So how did the tune "Sing For Me ft Ghetto" come about?
RK: "Basically that tune was getting a reception and then Wiley wanted it and Ghetto wanted it. So them two had a little thing over it but obviously Ghetto wanted it a lot so he done his thing on it. So that's it. Obviously I didn't mind who vocalled it, Wiley or Ghetto, because they're both big. But Ghetto had an idea for it, so Wiley let him have it and I made Wiley another one with similar sounds. Ghetto's doing a video for it as well. It's in progress."
B: How did the vocal sample in "Sing For Me" come about?
RK: "It's not a sample, it's a singer. When I was doing the beat I wanted a girl to just do me a jingle at the beginning. But randomly she did the singing in there too. It sounded good so I kept it in there. From there, I gave it out to a few DJs and that was it."
B: Obviously grime these days is all about mixtape CD, what does it mean to you to get a vinyl release?
RK: "As a producer, that's the only thing I can release properly. If I didn't release it through vinyl it would get leaked, eventually. Me releasing a vinyl I will be making a bit of money from it and obviously people will think "yeah, he's released something" so yeah I did want to release something and No Hats No Hoods, they're good at releasing, distributing and promoting things."
B: There aren't that many people putting out grime 12"s now are there?
RK: "Them and Logan's Ademantium music. I could put it on a CD but someone would just rip it and send it to everyone, so it would get leaked. But ripping from vinyl, you can tell so if DJs play that then... they're not proper DJs are they?"
B: You seem to be getting a lot of support from Maximum as well as Logan, is that right?
RK: "Yeah Maximum and Logan, they're the two people who're playing me the most. And Scratcher DVA. But Maximum and Logan are like the two biggest DJs in the scene! So really that's helped me a lot. So them banging out my tunes has helped."
B: So your MySpace has an ad for studio time, do you work as an engineer there?
RK: Nah that's just my cousins' studio, I'm helping him out. I'm still studying. I'm at uni now, doing a music degree. I'm gonna do music, get a degree in that and have something to fall back on. You need a backup."
B: Yeah, especially since it's really hard to sell music these days...
RK: "...yeah it is, grime anyway. It is hard to sell grime. "
B: So when did Logan and Maximum start playing your stuff?
RK: "Last year, but it wasn't a lot. Tunes like "Alien Skank" were getting played but not a lot. I think Logan played a vocal of "Bandannas On" by Griminal. Then a lot of people were asking for tunes."
B: So who have you worked with, vocal wise?
RK: "I've worked with the whole scene: Ghetto, Lil Nars, Griminal, Black the Ripper, P Money, Little Dee, Badnesss, Jendor, Fudaguy, Dot Rotten, Brutal, Lauren Mason... there's more people but I've fully forgot. And I'm going to make a few tunes for Skepta's album. I've sent tunes to Ny."
B: So how does it work once you've written the beat?
RK: "If I think a beat will suit Ghetto then I will ring him, tell him about it then email it to him. Then if he likes it, I'll go studio with him. The MCs use proper studios, they don't have their own. The MCs book the time – I go there and give them my input."
B: What do you think of the grime scene right now?
RK: "It's good. The only thing is there's talent out there but they're not getting brought in. The same people are getting played over and over again. But there's so much talent out there... obviously because I was one of them, not getting recognised."
B: But you've done it...
RK: "Obviously but that was due to hard work. So obviously them people need to do that too and they'll succeed. Though obviously some people get lucky and make food."
B: What other producers to you rate?
RK: "Manic is good. Dot Rotten. Scratcher DVA, Terror Danjah, DOK: they're big. Wiley, Rapid, Skepta and more."
B: Is it me or are the number of producers in grime getting smaller?
RK: "They're not getting smaller it's just that people have their own time. You can say [a certain producer] had his time – he's still doing his thing but there was a time when it was all about him. He had hype round his name. Now, I'd say – well bwoy – it's me I reckon."
Read a full article on Rude Kid, alongside The Bug and 2562 in this month's Pitchfork column.
Monday, June 02, 2008
South meets Nagano
Me n Dusk are reaching George Infinite's rave this week. Should be big. We might have to play "The Drumz of Nagano" just so we can say we dropped it at Drumz of the South. It's the drum thing, you know (sorry!).
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KATHMANDU (REUTERS) - A Chinese woman climbed Mount Everest on Friday, a government official said, the first person to go up from the Nepali side since an April avalanche killed 16 guides and forced hundreds of foreigners to abandon attempts on the world's highest mountain.
The deadliest accident in the history of Mount Everest triggered a dispute between Sherpa guides who wanted a climbing ban in honour of their colleagues for this season ending this month and the government that refused to close the mountain.
Tourism Ministry official Dipendra Poudel said 40-year-old Wang Jing reached the 8,850 metres summit on Friday afternoon in good weather. She climbed with five Sherpa guides along the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Tourism including mountain climbing contributes four per cent to Nepal's GDP.
More than 4,000 people have climbed Mount Everest since it was first scaled in 1953 while more than 250 have died on the slopes of the mountain which can also be climbed from China.
The Nepali guides were ferrying supplies for foreign clients when the avalanche struck on April 18 in Khumbu Icefall on a treacherous stretch of a planned route.
The disaster highlighted the tremendous risks sherpas take to guide their foreign clients to the top.
Authorities were accused of doing little for the sherpas while it collected considerable sums from foreign climbers. Sherpas were unhappy with the government that paid US$400 (S$500) to the families to meet funeral costs.
The row forced 334 foreign climbers to call off bids and the government agreed to allow them to climb on the same permit if they returned within five years.
Each climber pays US$10,000 for the permit which is a key source of revenue for the cash strapped government.
Wang took a helicopter from the base camp to Camp II to avoid the hazardous section of the route damaged by the avalanche which was yet to be fixed with ropes and ladders.
"Wang is the first climber to top Mount Everest this season. This is a historic ascent and a positive thing for Nepal's mountain tourism," Poudel told Reuters. "This is the proof that Mount Everest was not closed after the avalanche and it will never be closed," he said.
Poudel said Wang had descended to Camp IV at 7,900 metres from the summit and was expected to climb down to lower camps at the weekend.
It was not immediately clear if she would take a helicopter back to the base camp across the portion of the route damaged by the avalanche.

subset: commoncrawl


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This is a game for one player. You will need a game-board like the one shown below, so either print one off or draw one up yourself. (If you draw one, start by drawing the outside square, then the diagonals, then fill in the rest of the lines).
You will also need 12 counters (or coins, or buttons). Put a counter on every place that the lines cross, except the very centre.
The aim of the game is to remove all the counters except one. You remove a counter by jumping over it, along a line, and landing in a spare spot. This is the only way you can move a counter. So that means that your very first move will land in the centre spot, because that's the only spare spot to start with.
It's not as easy as it sounds to end up with just one counter. If you're not careful you'll be stuck with two or three counters and no way to move.
The real challenge is to end with the last counter in the centre spot.
The idea for this game came from the collection of John Cuthbert of Gillbrook Technology College, Middlesbrough.
The game uses a 3x3 square board. 2 players take turns to play, either placing a red on an empty square, or changing a red to orange, or orange to green. The player who forms 3 of 1 colour in a line wins.
In this game for two players, take it in turns to shade one petal, or two petals next to each other. Is it better to go first or second?


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If you enjoy and excel in science, but want to work in a corporate rather than lab environment, Western Michigan University offers a major in business-oriented chemistry just for you.
WMU's business-oriented chemistry degree is for students interested in the distribution of chemical products and materials, rather than chemical research and development. The coursework will equip you with a broad background in chemical science and familiarize you with the corporate community. After honing in on your business skills, you'll be better positioned to apply them in a specialized setting because of your knowledge of complex chemical processes.
Beyond the classroom
As a business-oriented chemistry student, you can gain experience beyond the classroom by joining WMU's Chem Club, an affiliate group of the American Chemical Society. The club provides networking opportunities and information about careers and advanced degrees in chemistry-related fields. You might also join a student organization that provides you with experiences to complement your degree, such as the Management Student Organization, the Sales and Business Marketing Association, or the American Marketing Association.
You should also apply for paid and unpaid internships with nearby businesses, since prior experience is a huge consideration for employers looking to hire even the most specialized sales and marketing associates.
After you graduate
Recent WMU graduates with degrees in business-oriented chemistry are working as:
- Managers
- Consultants
- Marketing associates
- Sales representatives
Among the companies they work for are:
- AMCOL Corp.
- Chemical Waste Management
- Environmental Science and Engineering
- CH2M Hill
If you're interested in attending graduate school, WMU's business-oriented chemistry program will provide flexibility. After successfully completing your coursework, and upon being accepted, you should be able to move easily into a graduate program in either business or chemistry with very few course deficiencies to make up.
Where is this program offered?
- Kalamazoo


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Kill your sweet-tooth cravings while providing energy for hours of hard work with this snack from the UFC FIT system. Try it in place of dessert.
1 banana
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or almond milk
2 Tbsp. carob nibs
1/4 cup almond butter
1 cup ice
1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
2 Tbsp. water
Blend together and enjoy!
(Gluten-free, vegan) Serves 1-2.
The good stuff
See why just one glass does so much for your body
The simple carbohydrates in a banana are fast acting and can be used as an immediate source of energy or to replenish lost glycogen following a workout. Glycogen is the main storage form of glucose.
Strawberries contain antioxidants, which protect cells from free-radical damage caused by aging, stress, poor diet and our environment. Antioxidants are most prevalent in naturally colorful fruits and vegetables, especially those with purple, blue, red, orange and yellow hues.
Almond milk is lactose- and cholesterol-free, low in carbohydrates and packed with vitamins and essential nutrients including magnesium, potassium and Vitamin E. It also is low in sugar and contains zero saturated fats.
Complete proteins like those found in yogurt contain all nine essential amino acids that our body is unable to produce. Therefore, we must find them in food.
Essential fats, like those found in flaxseed, are necessary because our body does not create them. They play a crucial role in brain function and reducing inflammation. They also increase the health of skin and hair and regulate the metabolism.
Get more recipes and a full 12-week fitness plan at UFC FIT.
Special Feature
Miami Is The Place To Be | UFC 299: O'Malley vs Vera 2


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14 Jun 2007 Caterpillar CEO Confronted at Company Stockholder Meeting for Joining Environmentalist Lobbying Group
Washington, D.C. – The National Center for Public Policy Research and the Project 21 black leadership network challenged senior Caterpillar, Inc. officials at the company's stockholder meeting Wednesday, asking them to explain Caterpillar's decision to join the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), which is lobbying for caps on carbon dioxide emissions.
USCAP's goal of achieving mandatory federal restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions would drive up the cost of energy and disproportionately harm low income people, Caterpillar's customers, and shareholders.
During the meeting's question-and-answer session, Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli questioned Caterpillar executives about whether the company performed a complete cost-benefit analysis on the effects a cap-and-trade policy on carbon emissions would have on Caterpillar, its customers and America's poor prior to the company joining the group, which lobbies for such policies.
"I asked the head of Caterpillar, James Owens, three different times if the company had done a cost-benefit analysis and he said 'no,'" said Ms. Borelli. "He also said that he was not planning to do one in the future. Unfortunately, America will be paying for this incompetence in the form of rising energy costs."
Mr. Owens also acknowledged that he had received and read the letter sent to him by over 70 national and state policy groups and representatives of mining, ranching, forestry, construction and agricultural industries, urging him to withdraw Caterpillar's membership in USCAP. The letter to Mr. Owens is available at www.nationalcenter.org/caterpillar_climate.pdf.
The Congressional Budget Office reported in April that the restrictions sought by USCAP would especially harm the poorest fifth of the U.S. population. As a percentage of wages, the poorest quintile would pay nearly double the costs borne by the richest quintile for energy. In addition, the CBO study found that "current workers and investors in [energy] industries would experience costs in the form of lower wages, job losses, and reduced stock values" as a result of a cap-and-trade emissions policy.
Tom Borelli, senior fellow with The National Center for Public Policy Research and portfolio manager for the Free Enterprise Action Fund, asked Mr. Owens if he had read the CBO report. Mr. Owens responded that he had not.
Ms. Borelli also pointed out to Mr. Owens that Caterpillar's involvement with USCAP had already lost the company at least one major customer, Murray Energy Corporation. Mr. Owens acknowledged this and said he was sorry about it.
"It's outrageous that a CEO would harm his key customers without doing any due diligence to determine the impact on his customers and shareholders," said Dr. Borelli. "This is why shareholders need to demand a debate regarding the impacts of cap-and-trade on their investment. Owens' ignorance on the issue of cap-and-trade could open up his company to shareholder lawsuits."
After only ten minutes into a scheduled 30-minute question-and-answer session, Caterpillar executives abruptly ended the meeting.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, non-profit educational foundation based in Washington, D.C. Project 21, a program supported by The National Center, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992.


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UK Must Keep Trident
The UK would be "foolish" to abandon Trident in the face of the potential threat of nuclear attack from North Korea and Iran, David Cameron has said
UK must keep Trident nuclear deterrent – David Cameron
The UK would be "foolish" to abandon Trident in the face of the potential threat of nuclear attack from North Korea and Iran, David Cameron has said.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the country still needed the "ultimate weapon of defence".
The prime minister said the nuclear danger had "increased" since the end of the Cold War.
The Lib Dems want the UK to explore a cheaper alternative to the Tories' £20bn plan to replace Trident.
Mr Cameron is committed to maintaining a round-the-clock submarine-based nuclear missile system of the kind Britain has had since the late 1960s.
But the Lib Dems have insisted the coalition carry out a review of cheaper submarine or land-based options, including abandoning round-the-clock patrols.
'Uncertainty and risk'
Labour, which was committed to a like-for-like replacement for Trident when it was in power, has now said it will examine the outcome of that review.
The prime minister is expected to stress his commitment to Trident, which is based on the Clyde, during a visit to the west of Scotland.
The Scottish National Party has said it would not allow nuclear weapons to be based in Scotland, should next year's referendum support independence, a move that would potentially add billions to the cost of replacing Trident.
Mr Cameron said the "highly unpredictable and aggressive" regime in North Korea was developing ballistic missiles that could become a threat to Britain.
He said: "We need our nuclear deterrent as much today as we did when a previous British government embarked on it over six decades ago.
"Of course, the world has changed dramatically. The Soviet Union no longer exists. But the nuclear threat has not gone away.
"In terms of uncertainty and potential risk it has, if anything, increased."
Mr Cameron said: "North Korea recently conducted its third nuclear test and could already have enough fissile material to produce more than a dozen nuclear weapons.
"Last year North Korea unveiled a long-range ballistic missile which it claims can reach the whole of the United States. If this became a reality it would also affect the whole of Europe, including the UK."
The prime minister questioned whether anyone would "seriously argue that it would be wise for Britain, faced with this evolving threat today, to surrender our deterrent".
"My judgement is that it would be foolish to leave Britain defenceless against a continuing, and growing, nuclear threat," he said.
Defence work
Shadow defence minister Kevan Jones said it was "absolutely right and necessary" for the UK to retain an independent nuclear deterrent but the cost needed to be taken into account.
"World events demonstrate that in an unpredictable era our country needs the ultimate security guarantee," he said.
"The precise nature of the deterrent must be judged on meeting military capability requirements and cost."
Mr Cameron has also spoken about the role of Scottish companies in supplying the UK's armed forces.
He described the work as more "secure" when it was as part of the United Kingdom, he said "defence jobs matter".
The SNP has claimed it would be a mistake for the UK government to place the Trident nuclear programme at the heart of its case for the union.
Defence spokesman Angus Robertson said: "The (Scottish) parliament and 80% of the people of Scotland want to get rid of Trident, and the obscene waste of up to £100bn it represents at a time of austerity and savage welfare cuts from Westminster."
Trident's Faslane base currently employs 6,700 military and civilian workers with that figure due to rise to 8,200 by 2022.
UK nuclear capability
The four Vanguard submarines which host Trident missiles can attack targets within a range of just over 4,600 miles (7,400km). The example above shows this range if the sub were located in the mid-Atlantic.
Meanwhile, the US has announced it is moving an advanced missile defence system to the Pacific island of Guam – where it has a significant military presence – amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.
It came as North Korea said the use of nuclear weapons by its military had been ratified.
North Korea has threatened attacks on the US and South Korea in recent weeks.
Source: BBC


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Remarks With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Secretary of State
The video is also available with closed captioning on YouTube.
We proceed from the fact that the solution on this problem will make unnecessary any strike on the Syrian Arab Republic, and I am convinced that our American colleagues, as President Obama stated, are firmly convinced that we should follow the peaceful way of resolution of the conflict in Syria. And I should say that we spoke with John by phone several times when we prepared for this meeting. We think that the development of the events gives us an additional opportunity for Geneva 2 in order to move this today's situation from the stage of military confrontation and to prevent any terroristic threats which is expanding in Syria and in the region, and to convene the conference during which the Syrian parties, in accordance with the Geneva communiques, should agree on the creation of the transition body that will have all the executive functions. And this is our common objectives, and I hope that our today's and tomorrow work and all other efforts that we are going to continue will help us to move on and to achieve this objective.
Thank you for your attention.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Foreign Minister Lavrov. My privilege to be here with our delegation, and I want to thank you and your delegation on behalf of all the people who hope that diplomacy can avoid military action, and we thank you for coming quickly to Geneva in order to have this important conversation that we will engage in.
Over one year ago, President Obama and President Putin directed high-level experts in our governments, both of our governments, to work together to prepare contingencies involving Syria's chemical weapons. Foreign Minister Lavrov and I have been in regular contact about this issue since my visit to Moscow earlier this year. And as Foreign Minister Lavrov said to me in a phone conversation after St. Petersburg and the meetings there, President Putin and President Obama thought it would be worthwhile for us to work together to determine if there is life in this concept.
This challenge obviously took on grave urgency on August 21st when the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in a massive and indiscriminate way against its own citizens. President Obama and dozens of our partners believe that that action is unacceptable, and we have in no uncertain terms made it clear that we cannot allow that to happen again.
In light of what has happened, the world wonders and watches closely whether or not the Assad regime will live up to its public commitments that it has made to give up their chemical weapons and whether two of the world's most powerful nations can together take a critical step forward in order to hold the regime to its stated promises.
I have seen reports that the Syrian regime has suggested that as part of the standard process they ought to have 30 days to submit data on their technical – on their chemical weapons stockpile. We believe there is nothing standard about this process at this moment because of the way the regime has behaved, because the – not only the existence of these weapons, but they have been used. And the words of the Syrian regime, in our judgment, are simply not enough, which is why we've come here in order to work with the Russians and work with Sergey Lavrov and his delegation here in order to make certain that this can, in fact, be achieved.
The United States and Russia have had and continue to have our share of disagreements about the situation in Syria, including a difference as to the judgment we just offered with respect to who may have done that. But what's important as we come here is that there's much that we agree on. We agree that on August 21st Syrian men, women, and children died grotesque deaths due to chemical weapons. We agree that no one anywhere at any time should employ chemical weapons. And we agree that our joining together with the international community to eliminate stockpiles of these weapons in Syria would be an historic moment for the multilateral nonproliferation efforts. We agree on those things. We agree that it would help to save lives if we could accomplish this, that it would reduce the threat to the region, that it would uphold the norm that was established here in Geneva almost a century ago, and it would achieve the best of our – all of our aspirations for curbing weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign Minister Lavrov and I have come to Geneva today to begin to test these propositions, not just on behalf of each of our countries but on behalf of everybody who is interested in a peaceful resolution. So I welcome the distinguished Russian delegation and I am proud that at President Obama's direction we have a delegation here which I lead of some of our nation's foremost chemical weapons experts; people who've dedicated their lives every day to countering the proliferation of these weapons and to bringing about their eventual elimination from this Earth.
The Russian delegation has put some ideas forward, and we're grateful for that. We respect it. And we have prepared our own principles that any plan to accomplish this needs to encompass. Expectations are high. They are high for the United States, perhaps even more so for Russia to deliver on the promise of this moment. This is not a game, and I said that to my friend Sergey when we talked about it initially. It has to be real. It has to be comprehensive. It has to be verifiable. It has to be credible. It has to be timely and implemented in a timely fashion. And finally, there ought to be consequences if it doesn't take place.
Diplomacy is and always has been President Obama's and this Administration's first resort, and achieving a peaceful resolution is clearly preferable to military action. President Obama has said that again and again. Now, it's too early to tell whether or not these efforts will succeed, but the technical challenges of trying to do this in the context of a civil war are obviously immense. But despite how difficult this is, with the collaboration of our experts and only with the compliance from the Assad regime, we do believe there is a way to get this done.
We have come here to define a potential path forward that we can share with our international partners, and together we will test the Assad regime's commitment to follow through on its promises. We are serious – Mr. Foreign Minister, we are serious, as you are – about engaging in substantive, meaningful negotiations even as our military maintains its current posture to keep up the pressure on the Assad regime. Only the credible threat of force and the intervention of President Putin and Russia based on that has brought the Assad regime to acknowledge for the first time that it even has chemical weapons and an arsenal, and it is now prepared to relinquish it. President Obama has made clear that should diplomacy fail, force might be necessary to deter and degrade Assad's capacity to deliver these weapons. It won't get rid of them, but it could change his willingness to use them.
The best thing to do, we agree, is remove them altogether. Our challenge here in Geneva is to test the viability of placing Assad's chemical weapons under international control, removing them from Syria, and destroying them forever. But the United States has also made clear that the deaths of more than 100,000 Syrians and the displacement of millions either internally or as refugees remains a stain on the world's conscience. We all need to keep that in mind and deal with it.
And that is why Foreign Minister Lavrov and I continue to work with Joint Special Envoy Brahimi and ourselves under the auspices of the Geneva communique. The Foreign Secretary just mentioned this and his hopes. We share those hopes that could foster a political solution to a civil war that undermines the stability of the region, threatens our own national security interests, and compels us to act. That is our hope and that is what we fervently hope can come out of this meeting and these negotiations.
Thank you very much.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: With your permission, just two words.
(Via interpreter) I'm not prepared with the (inaudible) political statement to (inaudible) the Syrian problem, because our approaches are clear and they are stated in the statements of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and in his article in The New York Times. And I'm convinced that all of you read this article and I decided not to lay out here our diplomatic position. The diplomacy likes silence. And we're intent to find compromises, and I am sure that John, in his presentation of the American position, also showed that they would like to find mutual consensus and be – if we follow this way, I hope that we will achieve all the successes.
SECRETARY KERRY: I lost the last part of the – can you give me the last part of the translation, please? Hello?
INTERPRETER: Yes, hello.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: It was okay, John. Don't worry. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: You want me to take your word for it? (Laughter.) It's a little early for that.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: Okay. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks.


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• audacity •
Pronunciation: aw-dæs-i-tee • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: 1. Striking boldness or daring. 2. Boldness with total disregard for rules and conventions.
Notes: This word is the noun accompanying the adjective audacious, which comes with an adverb, audaciously. Keep in mind the odd spelling of the sound [sh]: whenever soft [c] appears before [i] or [e], this is often the case.
In Play: Audacity usually breaks some kind of convention: "I thought that putting a frog in the water cooler showed audacity but wasn't funny in the least." It can also be just extreme boldness, though: "I think it took quite a bit of audacity for Luke Warm to propose to Susan Liddy-Gates. She turned him down, of course."
Word History: Today's Good Word goes back to Latin audax ([audaks]), audacis "bold, daring", the noun from audere "to dare". Audere is an odd variant of avidere "to be eager", based on the adjective avidus "eager", the word which English borrowed as avid after dropping the irrelevant endings. Avidus is the adjective from avere "to long for, desire", a verb which also provided the noun avaritia "greed", which English, after French had polished it up, borrowed for its avarice. Latin avere is based on Proto-Italic awe- "to be eager", from PIE aue- "to like, demand", source also of Welsh ewyllys "will, choice, desire", Sanskrit avati "desires", and Armenian aviwn "lust". (We are happy that Kathleen McCune, now of Sweden had the audacity to suggest today's very interesting Good Word.)
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!


text:
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This year's Venice Biennale of Architecture, curated by Rem Koolhaas, officially opened on June 7, under the theme "Fundamentals". The deluge of criticism and reporting coming out of the Biennale will surely continue until it closes November 23, but so far reactions from the architectural... View full entry
In the projects shown here, architects and artists reflect on the problems and possibilities of economic and urban growth. How is rapid urbanization happening? Who is benefiting, and who is being displaced or excluded? What can architects and citizens do to exert leverage on processes at once local and global? — Places Journal
On Places, Jonathan Massey reviews the 10th Sao Paulo Architecture Biennial, and presents a slideshow of selected works. View full entry
Our task — and we should well speak as architects — must be making the invisible visible, uncovering and retracing the concealed limits of the city. We must construct barriers and counter-spaces within and against the processes that tame and dissolve the crucial loci of democracy. — Places Journal
Within a few years, rapidly growing Istanbul will overtake London and Moscow as Europe's largest metropolis. Not coincidentally, Turkey is undergoing a profound shift toward privatization, as seen in the government's plan to redevelop Taksim Gezi Park into a shopping mall with a nostalgic... View full entry
"All great public squares have a monument with a statue, right? ... Everyone in town can agree about that. But whenever we discuss which historical figure should go up on that column, it turns into a fight. We can't come to a consensus. So we've decided to leave it empty. One day, this person will come. And when they do, we will have a place waiting for their statue. This will bring great pride to Anse-à-Pitres." — Places Journal
On Places, artist and filmmaker Joseph Redwood-Martinez shares photographs and anecdotes from a research project investigating examples of incomplete architecture around the world: "buildings and structures that are activated or inhabited even though their construction is not complete." View full entry
The particular danger of TEDification to the design disciplines, I think, is its core message that the chief obstacle to our discovering grand solutions to global problems — to achieving the grand design, to "making a comprehensive entity," as that reviewer of Big History applauded — is our lack of sufficient connection. What we need, we're told, is a seamless web of ideas, capital, products and data. — Places Journal
"We are living through the era of the TED Talk, much like an earlier generation lived through the era of the World's Fair, wondrous about our new world in the making," writes Simon Sadler on Places. "TEDification endows capitalism and globalization with a credible spiritual and ethical mission... View full entry
I wish that it still existed.
— Frank Gehry
It would be the world's biggest nightmare if the Institute were still alive.
— Mark Wigley
It was the moment for something to happen.
— Diana Agrest
— Places Journal
In 1967 Peter Eisenman founded the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, and until it closed in 1985 the Institute — a heady mix of think tank, exhibit space, journal publisher and cocktail party — was one of the centers of American architecture culture. Belmont Freeman... View full entry
Lina Bo Bardi was loyal more to an emancipating concept of modernity than to the abstract, formal language of modern architecture. Her thinking and practice were situated at the intersection of different worldviews: north and south, city and hinterland, privilege and deprivation, modernism and tradition, past and present, abstraction and social realism. As she declared in 1989, "I didn't make myself alone. I am curious and this quality broadens my horizons. ... I am somehow special." — Places Journal
Lina Bo Bardi's career spanned two continents and six decades, but we are only just beginning to appreciate what Zeuler Lima describes as the "vast and original body of work that emerged from her prolific but discontinuous trajectory as architect, designer, illustrator, writer, editor and... View full entry
The default recourse to data-fication, the presumption that all meaningful flows and activity can be sensed and measured, is taking us toward a future in which the people shaping our cities and their policies rarely have the opportunity to consider the nature of our stickiest urban problems and the kind of questions they raise. — Places Journal
What do corporate smart-city programs have in common with D.I.Y. science projects and civic hackathons? "Theirs is a city with an underlying logic," writes Shannon Mattern, "made more efficient — or just, or sustainable, or livable — with a tweak to its algorithms or... View full entry
We've seen the movies, read the books, toured the spooky attractions. This we know: haunted houses are dangerous places. They're built on evil ground, or on sites where bad things happened, or above the graves of people who don't want company. ... But that's not what I want to talk about here. Sometimes buildings are born bad. — Places Journal
Just in time for Halloween, Eggener takes us on a tour of evil architecture in books and movies. "'Organic architecture must come from the ground up into the light by gradual growth,'" he writes. "So said Frank Lloyd Wright, though none of his buildings ever murdered a client." View full entry
I step out into the street but realize that I'd better not — there's a current — and as my hallway fills, I remember the electrical panel in the basement. It shorts out, and I hear the breakers fall. Then there is an explosion outside, and the neighborhood goes dark. — Places Journal
In October 2012, as Hurricane Sandy approached New York, Alexandros Washburn defied evacuation orders and stayed fast in his home in Red Hook, watching as his street flooded and became a "full-fledged river." But he had good reason; the city's chief urban designer wanted to observe first-hand... View full entry
My bewilderment quickly yields to a growing sense of dread. How is it that even in the heart of Silicon Valley it's completely acceptable for smart technology to be buggy, erratic, or totally dysfunctional? ... We are weaving these technologies into our homes, our communities, even our very bodies — but even experts have become disturbingly complacent about their shortcomings. The rest of us rarely question them at all. — Places Journal
Electric car sharing in Paris, dynamic road pricing in Singapore, nationwide smart meters in the UK. "The technology industry is asking us to rebuild the world around its vision of efficient, safe, convenient living," writes Anthony M. Townsend in an excerpt on Places from his... View full entry
My own conviction is that the most meaningful prolonged response to the Pritzker — but much more, to the entrenched discrimination it both reflects and reinforces — will involve political action directed toward measureable change. It will involve ramping up the current professional and cultural conversation — now focused on sharing experiences, promoting awareness, influencing leaders in the field — and articulating specific goals, definable outcomes. — Places Journal
Lately the subject of women's status in architecture — long dismissed as essentialist and unnecessary — has bounded back onto the agenda. As recent articles, books, exhibitions, online discussions and petition campaigns all attest, the full integration of the profession remains a... View full entry
One of the most gratifying bits of feedback I ever received from one of my Ranger projects came from a 60-something woman who'd attended a campfire program on freeway landscapes in Los Angeles. Months later, she told me that she never looked at a freeway in the same way. Who knows what this kind of change in perception might ultimately lead to? — Places Journal
For decades intrepid tourists have been journeying to the monumental dams of the American West to marvel at the infrastructures of hydroelectric power. These days they're just as likely to be on a field trip to trace the pathways of the Internet, or the footprint of communication satellites, or... View full entry
Smart city infrastructure can augment the ability of managers, planners, designers and engineers to define and implement a fundamentally better next generation of buildings, cities, regions — right? Maybe. For that to be a serious proposition, it's going to have to be normal for planners and designers not only to collaborate productively with engineers, but to do so with the full and competent participation of the only people they mistrust more than each other ... customers. — Places Journal
"A city is not a BMW," writes Carl Skelton. "You can't drive it without knowing how it works." In a weighty think-piece on Places, he argues that the public needs new tools of citizenship to thrive in a "new soft world" increasingly shaped by smart meters, surveillance cameras, urban informatics... View full entry
We cannot expect big American cities to reach their potential when the very professions that purport to defend and perpetuate urbanism recoil at the presence of towers. Left rudderless by the experts, we are forced to inhabit the bleak consequences of a poorly regulated marketplace, analogous to a population that must operate on its own cancers due to the confused surgeons who keep cutting away at the healthy tissue. — Places Journal
Americans are famously conflicted about urban development: somehow we've demonized both sprawl and density. But today there is a new conversation about the future of cities, driven by diversifying social desires, evolving technologies, and pressing environmental constraints. On Places, in an... View full entry


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Monday's Top Upgrades (and Downgrades)
This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include upgrades for AOL and Simpson Manufacturing , but it's not all good news. Read on, and find out why...
Fossil got buried
For shareholders of pop fashion watchmaker Fossil , the trading week is off to a bleak start. Earnings are due to come out tomorrow, but analyst Benchmark Capital is downgrading the shares (to "hold") ahead of the news.
Why? Two reasons, really: According to Benchmark, "retailers continue to report strong revenue in accessories and ... currency [exchange rates] moved in favor of Fossil during the quarter." For this reason, Benchmark says it's expecting Fossil to report better-than-consensus earnings tomorrow. Unfortunately, the rest of 2013 doesn't look so hot. The analyst worries that Fossil will announce below-consensus guidance for this fiscal year, perhaps prompting a sell-off tomorrow. When you consider that on top of this, the shares are already at Benchmark's $105 target price, the analyst thinks there's simply little upside left to be had.
And Benchmark is right about that. From a plain-vanilla PEG perspective, Fossil shares already look a bit pricey at 21 times earnings and an 18% growth rate. More worrying is the fact that over the past 12 months, real free cash flow at the company has significantly lagged reported net income -- $238 million in FCF versus $310 million in reported earnings. This indicates low quality of earnings at Fossil, and suggests we could see a potential "miss" in future quarters as earnings fall back toward FCF.
In short, Benchmark is right to be skeptical of Fossil today. You should be, too.
AOL back online
Happier news awaited AOL investors on Monday, as shares that leapt 14% Friday on a strong earnings report are getting a secondary bump from an upgrade (to "outperform") at RBC Capital. Meanwhile, fellow analyst Jefferies is adding fuel to the fire with a research note predicting AOL shares will hit $50 within a year.
According to StreetInsider.com, which reported the price target hike at Jefferies this morning, the analyst thinks "AOL's core assets are being underappreciated and ... this story continues to get better."
There's some truth to that. Last year, as you may recall, AOL's "core assets" turned into a big score for the company, which offloaded some 800 patents to Microsoft in a $1.1 billion sale. On the other hand, this big one-time windfall is currently distorting AOL's income statement, making it look like the stock has a P/E of 3. That's quite low for the 27% long-term growth rate analysts assign AOL. And yet, if you look out a year, you'll notice that the forward P/E ratio on AOL is closer to 20. That's not as cheap as 3, granted. But it's still not expensive if AOL manages to grow earnings at 27% a year for the next five years -- as the analysts are promising it will.
In short, the analysts are probably right to be optimistic about AOL's chances. Once left for dead, this stock has a new lease on life, and, well, like the analyst said: "This story continues to get better."
Don't have a cow -- but they just upgraded Simpson Manufacturing
In our third and final rating of the day, we find investment banker D.A. Davidson announcing an upgrade for screws and fasteners maker Simpson Manufacturing. It's not the sexiest of businesses, but in a reviving housing market, it's a logical place for investors to look in hopes of making some profit. Davidson thinks this $30 stock is worth $37. But honestly, I'm not so sure it's right -- not nearly as certain as I am about the other two ratings we've looked at.
Why not? Well, just look at the valuation: Priced at 34.5 times earnings already, Simpson has all the expectations for 15.5% long-term earnings growth priced into its stock already -- and more. Meanwhile, what did we see at Simpson in 2012? The company reported its 2012 performance just last week, with revenues rising 9%, but profits falling 16%.
Neither of these numbers, you'll notice, is anywhere near the average 15.5% gain that Wall Street has been promising us. But even if it were, it would still be hard to see why investors would willingly pay 34 times earnings for that growth rate.
Long story short, Davidson is wrong to be long Simpson. In fact, at today's prices, the stock might make for an even better short idea.
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Fossil and Simpson Manufacturing. The Motley Fool owns shares of Fossil and Microsoft.
The article Monday's Top Upgrades (and Downgrades) originally appeared on Fool.com.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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About the Census
2,700 scientists
80+ nations
540 expeditions
US$ 650 million
2,600+ scientific publications
6,000+ potential new species
30 million distribution records and counting
These numbers only begin to describe the scope of the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year international effort undertaken in to assess the diversity (how many different kinds), distribution (where they live), and abundance (how many) of marine life—a task never before attempted on this scale. The Census stimulated the discipline of marine science by tackling these issues globally, and engaging some 2,700 scientists from around the globe, who participated in 540 expeditions and countless hours of land-based research. The scientific results were reported on October 4, 2010 at the Royal Institution in London.
The first Census of Marine Life produced the most comprehensive inventory of known marine life ever compiled and cataloged it as a basis for future research—30 million records as of January 2011 and counting! This first baseline picture of ocean life—past, present, and future—can be used to forecast, measure, and understand changes in the global marine environment, as well as to inform the management and conservation of marine resources. The Census investigated life in the global ocean from microbes to whales, from top to bottom, from pole to pole, bringing together the world's preeminent marine biologists, who shared ideas, data, and results. During their 10 years of discovery, Census scientists discovered new species, habitats, and connections and unlocked many of the ocean's long-held secrets. They found and formally described more than1, 200 new marine species, with another 5,000 or more in the pipeline awaiting formal description. They discovered areas in the ocean where animals congregate, from white shark cafés in the open ocean to an evening rush hour in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to a shoal of fish the size of Manhattan off the coast of New Jersey, USA. They unearthed a rare biosphere in the microbial world, where scarce species lie in wait to become dominant if change goes their way, and found species believed to reside at both poles. While unlocking many secrets, investigators also documented long-term and widespread declines in marine life as well as resilience of the ocean in areas where recovery was apparent.
Along with secrets came surprises. The existence of giant mats of microbes, ranked among Earth's largest masses of life, a Jurassic shrimp (Neoglyphea neocaledonica) thought to have been extinct 50 million years ago, and multi-cellular animals (three species of the animal phylum Loricifera) thriving without oxygen at sea bottom, where only microbes were thought to survive, were but a few of the astonishing discoveries over the decadal study.
Along with surprises came extremes. Census scientists, for example, uncovered the deepest, hottest, most northerly and most southerly hydrothermal "black smoker" vents known to science, found the world's largest biotic ecosystem created by a single type of organism, and traveled along as a sooty shearwater chased endless summer on its 64,000-kilometer (40,000-mile) pole-to-pole journey. Scientists also reported the existence of everything from a giant squid to 38,000 different kinds of bacteria in a liter of seawater. The implications of these discoveries reveal the extent of the unknown.
The Census focused new "binoculars" of technology into the ocean, providing a sharper focus on the world below the waves. Novel and reconfigured exploration tools used in many previously unexplored locations helped to fill in the pieces of the huge biogeographic puzzle that is the global ocean. These new vision-expanding tools included genetic barcoding techniques that automate and speed identification of species, helping to compensate for a shortage of marine taxonomists, tagging and tracking methodologies that provide an insiders' view of this watery world, and acoustic innovations, providing abundance assessments of marine populations heretofore not possible. While advancing technology, scientists also set to work on standardizing sampling protocols making it possible to compare "apples to oranges" across the global ocean, revealing a clearer picture of what lives below the ocean's surface. These tools and strategies pave the way for the next generation of ocean explorers.
In addition to extensive contributions (more than 2,600 papers) to the scientific literature, the Census has created major legacies that range from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) database, the world's largest open access, online repository of spatially referenced marine life data that will continue on under the auspices of the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission's program, the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange, to 13 National and Regional Implementation Committees that cross geographic, cultural, and political boundaries to orchestrate studies of the world's ocean. It also has created and supported frameworks to aggregate information about all marine life, making it possible to estimate the number of species newly described by the entire marine taxonomic community. It has partnered with many to advance what is known and knowable about marine life. These partners include the Encyclopedia of Life, the World Register of Marine Species, and the Marine Barcode of Life, and Catalogue of Life projects. The Census also has served as a model for the Ocean Tracking Network. In total, the Census has laid a solid foundation for directing future collaborative marine biodiversity research, serving as a model for how huge scientific undertakings can be structured for success, and has provided needed science to help guide policy for a changing ocean.
Such advances would not have been made without the vision for a "Census of Marine Life" and the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which provided initial funding for the international infrastructure that allowed for, and encouraged, scientific collaboration among peers and served to help leverage the US$650 million ultimately dedicated to this 10-year effort. The work realized by the Census of Marine Life, while substantial, has only scratched the surface of what remains to be learned about what lives and may live in the world's ocean. The Age of Discovery is not over!
Summary of Census of Marine Life Achievements
• Established a baseline of marine life diversity, distribution, and abundance against which future change can be measured.
• Aggregated more than 30 million of species-level records obtained before and outside the Census and added millions more from its own field work, including 1,200 newly discovered and described species. Another 5,000 or more await formal description.
• Created the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, the world's largest online repository of geo-referenced data that nations can use to develop national and regional assessments and to meet their obligations to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international commitments.
• Mapped migration routes and breeding areas that can be used to protect animals' oceanic transit routes.
• Identified well-explored areas and those where further exploration is warranted.
• Showed through studies of environmental history that some marine habitats and living resources have been impacted by humans for thousands of years. With protection recovery is slow but possible. Coastal and enclosed seas are the most impacted.
• Determined that in the deep sea, past impacts were mainly from disposal of waste and litter. Today, fisheries, and hydrocarbon and mineral extraction have the greatest impact In the future, climate change is predicted to have the greatest impact.
• Collaborated with the Encyclopedia of Life to complete ~90,000 marine species pages and provided and continues to serve as the marine component of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
• Supported the World Register of Marine Species, which confirmed that, excluding microbes approximately 250,000 valid marine species have been formally described in the scientific literature, with an estimated at least 750,000 more species remaining to be described.Also, estimated that more than a billion types of microbes may live in the oceans.
• Built individual, institutional, national and regional capacity. Through its young alumni, the Census will contribute to marine life knowledge for decades to come.


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A: MuckAway does a number on muck. The special blend of aerobic bacteria digests organic debris (a.k.a. muck), improves water clarity and eliminates noxious odors. The precision-release pellets are easy to use, and they're perfect for battling built-up sludge anywhere in your pond.
But there is a way to best apply
MuckAway. Here's what we recommend.
- Disburse Evenly: Whether you're using MuckAway near the shoreline or across your entire pond, the pellets will need to be spread evenly across the treatment area. Plan to use one scoop per 1,000 square feet.
- Use a Boat: If you are treating the entire pond or lake, consider using a boat for uniform MuckAway dispersal. Individual tablets that are spread very far apart (tossed from the shore) will not have as dramatic an impact on muck as those that are densely and evenly distributed.
- Consider MuckAway Total Lake: A large pond or lake may need the super sludge-busting power of MuckAway Total Lake Pond Muck Reducer. When used as directed, it will treat an entire surface acre and eliminates up to 2 inches of muck per month regardless of water depth!
- Combine Forces: Many customers choose to use a one-two punch when contending with water clarity issues. They'll use PondClear Beneficial Bacteria water soluble packets to clean and clear the water column, and MuckAway or MuckAway Total Lake to break down the sunken muck around often-used areas, like the pond perimeter and beach areas.
You can increase the effectiveness of MuckAway and MuckAway Total Lake by raking out any large, long-to-decompose debris from the pond before you begin treatments. This allows those aerobic beneficial bacteria to target the fine debris that's difficult to remove.
Airmax Aeration is also key to helping your bacteria be more effective at battling muck. The moving, aerated water provides both oxygen and circulation, which creates an ideal environment for MuckAway or MuckAway Total Lake to flourish. Looking for proof? Check out our Fox Lake Field Study. It shows the results of what happens to muck when MuckAway Total Lake and aeration are used together.